Cold Beauty and the Smooth Talking Beast
by Music lover3212
Summary: Okay, so I moved to Rio to have a better life but here I am with an arrogant guy wanting me to be his mate, stuck in a dark jungle with mice attending me to my every need, and a beast flirting with me. Oh yeah, this is sooo a better life. Note my sarcasm. Cover own and drawn by me.
1. Chapter 1: Prolouge

**A/N: Okay I just **_**love **_**Beauty and the Beast and I thought this would be awesome. The plot will change and won't be _exactly_ like the movie, hence the title.**

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><p><em>Once upon a time, a handsome, young canary lived in Rio. Although he can pick any woman that he wishes, he was very insensitive toward their feelings.<em>

_One day, a very gorgeous finch came along and the canary tried to woo her. Although she told him not to be fooled by appearances, he still tried to woo her._

_The finch melted away to reveal a beautiful human enchantress. She told the canary of how he picked up gorgeous birds but once they fell in love with him, he'd throw them away; not once caring about how heartbroken they are and how they were just toys to him._

_The canary was on his knees apologizing and saying he would change but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. With a tap of her wand, the canary grew a bit larger with unruly feathers, sharp talons, a chipped beak, and many scars; the most noticeable scar was one that went to his left eye all the way down to his lower beak. She also placed a curse on the entire jungle, making the birds mice._

_The enchantress gave him a bottle cap. But the enchantress said that this bottle cap was enchanted. It had two glowing purple stripes. She explained that each stripes' light will slowly fade when a year was over. Two stripes, two years. She also explained that if he looked inside the bottle cap, he could see anything he wanted. The bottle cap was his only key to the outside world._

_If he could love another and earn her love in return by the time the last stripe fades away, then the spell would be broken. If he could not, then he would remain in this stage forever. _

_The canary kept himself hidden inside his hollow, ashamed of how he looked and full of hopelessness. For who could ever learn to love_

… _A beast_

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><p><strong>AN: So far so good?**


	2. Chapter 2: Natalie the Belle

**A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed! I forgot to mention this. It might not have **_**all **_**the songs of beauty and the beast maybe 1-3 of them.**

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><p><em>*1 year later*<em>

I was currently flying around the jungle. We live on the east side of Rio for, apparently, something terrible happen on west side happen. Whenever I'd ask, they'd say this finch went to that side with a heartthrob and the finch came out all ruffled, saying the heartthrob got eaten by a cat or whatever. They say that dangerous animal is still there because all the birds in that jungle disappeared as well. I didn't really believe them but just to be safe, we stayed on the east side of Ipanema.

Now, who is this _we_ you might be asking? Well that _we_ is me, my brothers, and my best friend Genevieve.

Genevieve is a sweet bird but we don't know her species. You wouldn't think she's 15 years old with her large pine green eyes and orchid colored bow. Since she's French, she always calls me Belle, which is French for beauty. The name stuck and now everyone calls me that. I personally don't find myself pretty; I think looks are so judge mental. I believe in one's personality, sappy I know.

Anyway, my brothers are Buster and Logan, the daredevils of Ipanema. They will do anything that can cost they're lives. They motto is 'live like there's no tomorrow' but I think it's 'let's see how much fun we can have before we kill ourselves', but they do awesome stunts and I support them. But everyone thinks they're insane and should be put into an asylum,

I landed near a small lake in the jungle to get a drink. The water felt soooo nice down my throat. I never knew I was _this _thirsty until I started drinking. Mmmm so nice and refreashing. I can drink this forever-

"Hello Belle," a strong voice said behind me, interrupting my thoughts.

If only he wasn't here.

I got up and saw Alan, a buff red macaw. Next to him was Blake, a little Ruby-throated humming bird.

I suppose you guys want to know about them. Well, too bad! I have to deal with these punks first, maybe later.

"What do you want Alan?" I asked a bit annoyed.

"I just came to see if you want a date tonight." it wasn't a question. I could sense the arrogance in his voice and the smirk in his eyes. I _really _don't like him, but me being the kind canary I am, I'm gonna have to let him down gently.

"I'm sorry Alan," I said with a fake sweetness to my voice. "I have to go help my brothers. Goodbye." before I could take off I heard a nasal laugh.

"Hahahaha! Those crazy loons," began Blake. "They need all the help they can get!" **(A/N: I couldn't help myself XD)** Then Alan started laughing as well.

I felt my blood boil. I _hate _it when people talk about my family like that. I could beat him up right then and there, but I need to control my temper.

Instead I put my wings on my hips and said, "Don't talk about my brothers that way!"

They both stopped laughing and Alan turned to Blake with a furious look. "Yeah, don't talk about her brothers that way."

He then smacked Blake from behind his head. I rolled my eyes. I knew he was trying to get on my good side.

"My brothers are not crazy! They're great with stunts!" as soon as I said this a loud BOOM came. I turned to see fireworks, and it was coming from my home. I covered my beak for half a second then flew home, hearing the boy's laughter from behind me.

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><p>There was smoke everywhere from outside our hollow. I started coughing like mad and I heard coughing next to me too.<p>

"Gen, what happened?" I asked my friend.

Genevieve rolled her eyes. "Oh, zee boys are trying to find out what stunt zey will do."

I heard more coughing and saw two silhouettes coming from the smoke.

My brothers came out of the smoke, showing that they were covered in soot.

"Aw," Logan began. "I can't believe that didn't work!"

Buster nodded with a frustrated look. "We'll never get to do this stunt right!" he said then kicked a small firecracker.

I started giggling. "Yes you guys will, and I'm positive you guy will win the competition tomorrow."

There was a contest somewhere in the middle of Rio to see which bird is the most awesome in stunts. As soon as my brothers heard about it, they started practicing what the routine of their stunt will be.

My brothers crossed they're wings and turned their back towards me with a pout.

I continued what I was going to say and put my wings around them. "And be the most awesome stunt birds in all of Rio."

They turned to look at me. "Do you really think so, Natalie?" they asked in unison.

I gave them a sweet smile and said, "I always have."

That got them. They straightened their postures.

"Well," Logan said with a new found confidence. "Let's get started then! Shall we Buster?"

Buster nodded with a determined look. "I'm ready if you are."

Before they can practice I stopped them. "But can you guys_ please_ do your stunt somewhere else? I would like to keep_ this _home."

My brothers nodded sheepishly, remembering the last time they tried this stunt.

"Good," I said and they took off. "Good luck guys!"

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><p>I went inside our hollow with Gen.<p>

"I really hope zey will get zis stunt right." Genevieve said desperately.

"Don't worry Gen, I _know _they will."

"I know zey will Belle. I want to see zem win and for zem to be happy."

I nodded. "Me too Gen, me too. "They _will _win. I'm certain of it."

Yes… I know they will.

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><p><strong>AN; This story will pretty much be in Natalie's POV but in the movie when the beast was alone, it will be in Nico's POV**


	3. Chapter 3: A Girl!

**A/N: Besides the poll, there's another thing that just happened to keep me from writing. My dad got into a motorcycle accident and had to get surgery. So I had to go to the hospital and help move a bed in the living room so my dad can stay there (he got surgery on his hip so he can't walk.). **

**But don't worry about me. As long as my dad's still alive, then I'm ok. On with the story!**

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><p>I have never been so mad in all my life! This close, I was <em>this<em> close to rippin' Allen's head off.

I know, I know. You're wondering what happened. Well, it all started…

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><p><em>*1 hour ago*<em>

"_Bye guys, and good luck!"_

_After a few hours, my brothers finally got their stunt right. The sun was already setting, so they decided to leave now before it was night._

"_Luck? We don't need luck! It's all in the bag, Nat!" Logan yelled with confidence._

"_Bye sis! We'll make you proud!" Buster said before leaving with Logs._

_I gave one final wave then went back inside the hollow. Looking around, I decided to clean the place since those maroons messed it up with past stunts._

_I was panting heavily and, after using many leaves and trips to the lake, got the place cleaned. I wish Genevieve was here to help me clean but noooooooooooo she went to a club after she said goodbye to my brothers._

"_Good evening, Belle." said a masculine voice._

_With a heavy eye roll, I turned to see Allen with a black bow tie around his neck._

_I faked a smile. "Allen, what a pleasant surprise."_

'_**Not really.' **__'I thought annoyed._

"_Isn't it though? I'm just full of surprises." he said arrogantly._

"_So, what are you doing here?" I asked with a hint of annoyance and hatred._

"_I'm glad you asked." he said, oblivious to my tone of voice. "Today's the day where your dreams come true."_

"_What do you know about my dreams, Allen?" I asked, the annoyance in my voice fully out._

"_More than you'd think." he said while going to the other side of my hollow with._

"_Picture this," he said with his wings going across each other. "A nice hollow on the top of the mountain. A beautiful land for a family. My little wife, massaging my feet. While the little ones play with the ladybugs. Oh, we will have 20-30." he said with his face near mine._

'_**Oh no, I know what he's talking about.'**_

_I gave a nervous smile at him and said, "Ladybugs?"_

"_No, Natalie," he said chuckling a bit. "Strapping boys, like me."_

"_Heh, heh, imagine that." I said sarcastically, my back to him so I can dust the bark of the hollow._

"_And you know who that mate will be?" he asked. I can feel him coming closer to me._

"_Let me think." I said, again, sarcastically._

"_You, Belle." he said, causing me to turn around. _

_I quickly looked at the entrance of my hollow, an idea coming to me._

_I hastily flew there. I can hear Allen's heavy footsteps making his way there as well._

"_So, what do you say, Belle? Is it 'yes' or is it 'oh, yes'?"_

"_I," I began while he close his eyes and puckered his beak. "I just don't deserve you." _

_I flew out of my hollow and, since his eyes were still closed and he kept leaning until he felt his beak on mine, he fell face first in mud._

_I quickly went back inside and dumped all the wet, dirty leaves on top of him. "Not in this lifetime bub!" I yelled and flew away before he can come out of the pile and do something._

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><p>So, here I am flying around Rio, fuming. I then noticed something. It was a dark brown and kinda like powder.<p>

I flew down to investigate.

I picked up the powder and waft it.

It was the same powder that the boys used in there stunt. I got worried about my brothers, so I followed the small trial and found something else.

A firecracker with a big hole and all the powder exposed.

Behind the useless firecracker was more powder and another damaged firecracker. I followed the trail of powder and firecrackers until I stopped with the last one.

I looked up and froze.

I was in west side of Rio. I gathered up all the courage I had and went in the dark jungle to search for my brothers.

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><p>"You see what you did, Raffy? You just couldn't ignore them, couldn't you? 'Blu, get these nice boys a big fluffy leave. Jewel, can you get those two some water please?' Dude, this is bad. This is <em>so <em>bad." A small red and gray mouse said, pacing around the grass.

"Pedro, I know this may seem bad, but maybe we can convince him to let them go." A black and white mouse said.

The red and gray mouse, Pedro, stood on his hind legs and threw his paws up in the air. "Rafael, do you know how hard that would be?"

Rafael stood up as well and had his paws up in a shrugging manner. "We could try." he said with a smile.

Pedro rolled his eyes.

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><p>A blue mouse was washing two baby mice, looking for the third one at the same time. "Have you two seen your brother?"<p>

A light blue mouse said, "Nope." while the blue mouse with fur like his father's said. "Nuh-uh."

"Dad, dad!" an enthusiastic voice said.

The larger mouse turned and looked down at his son, his paws on his hips. "Samuel, where have you been?"

A baby mouse that looks like his father and brother, Samuel, came in front of his dad and said, "Papa, there's a girl in the jungle."

He heard his brother and sister snort. He looked up and saw that his father held an annoyed expression.

"Don't be silly, Sam-"

"But pop, I saw her." his hazel eyes pleading his father's.

"Stop talking nonsense Samuel, now into the tub." The larger mouse put his son into a lake, at the shallow end.

"A girl!" he heard a familiar voice shriek.

A light blue mouse came in a hurry to the mice. "Blu, there's a girl in the jungle." she said excitedly with a huge smile.

The darker blue mouse, Blu, looked at his mate with wide hazel eyes. "Jewel, are you sure?"

The lighter blue mouse, Jewel, gave a nod and hurried back.

Samuel, hearing everything that had been said, popped his head out of the water and spit out some water. "See, I told you." he said smugly with a smile to match.

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><p>Pedro was still pacing around. "Okay, okay, okay. No need to panic."<p>

"I'm not panicking." Rafael said coolly.

"I'm talking about me." Pedro said, wringing his paws.

"Ok look, maybe we can-" Rafael was then interrupted by a soft voice.

"Boys?"

Both mice turned and saw a female canary walking around timidly.

Rafael gasped. "It's a girl!"

Pedro just made a face, thinking Rafael thought of him as dumb. "I know it's a _girl_." he said, making a weird voice at the word 'girl'.

"No, Pedro, don't you see? She's the one, the girl we've been waiting for!" Rafael said excitedly and ran towards the girl so she can find out where the two male canaries were.

"Wait, Raffy!" Pedro yelled and got on his fours as well to catch up with him.

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><p><strong>AN: Eh? Eeeehhh? What'd you think? By the way, Samuel will play Chip and Ruby and Julio will only have cameos. I don't know if I should add Eva in since Jewel will play Babette and Blu will play a male version of Mrs. Potts.**

**This chapter is kinda like the movie, but I had to or else the plot will be screwed up. But like I said in the beginning, it's not going to be **_**exactly **_**like the movie, only a few parts.**


	4. Chapter 4: Trading Places

**A/N: I'm back~! I finally got my dumb laptop fixed and got its charger. So, Chapter Four is finally here whoo!**

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><p>"Boys? Logan? Buster?" I asked cautiously. I was thinking about flying when I saw something scurry past.<p>

"W-what was that?" I looked around when I saw another thing scurry past in the same direction the last one went.

Maybe I should follow it. I've seen one too many horror movies to know something bad happens to the girl, but this ain't a movie. Just because there was a bad rumor about this part of Ipanema and it's night, doesn't mean anything bad will happen…right?

By listening to the small feet that pitter pattered on the grass, I heard some voices.

"54 cartons of milk on the wall, 54 cartons of milk; take one down, open the spout, drinkity-drink till the milk runs out!"

"Log, will you _shut up_!" Yup, my brothers are obviously here.

I turned the corner of a tree to find my brothers in cage. Logan was moving a stick back and forth with his talon against the cage, and Buster was banging his head against the cage.

"Boys!" I cried, making them jerk their heads up.

"Belle!"

"Nattie!" they cried.

I immediately flew towards them. "Boys, what happened?" I asked.

"Who cares? Nat, you have to get out of here," Buster said hastily.

I shook my head stubbornly. "No, I'm not leaving you guys. Once I find a way to open this stupid cage, we're going home."

"Belle, _listen _to us! You _have _to get out of here! We'll be fine, just go!" Logan said worriedly.

"No! I am _not _leaving you!"

"Quit being stubborn!"

"Quit being stupid!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" a voice boomed. I froze. I slowly turned and my eyes widened in fear when a saw a big looking…thing in front of me.

I finally found my voice. "Wh-who are you?" I demanded.

"The ruler of this jungle." Is it just me, or did he sound arrogant when he said that.

"Why are my brothers locked up?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

"They're trespassers. They shouldn't be here."

"It's not like we _meant _to be here. It was accidental. No need to freak out about it, man!" Logan yelled.

"Shut up, Logan!" Buster and I yelled. I then turned to look at the creature's brown eyes. "Look, this was all just some freak accident. What can I do to release them?"

The thing looked in thought then spoke up. "There's nothing you can do." He started to walk away.

Looks like I have no choice. Ugh, I know I'm gonna regret this. "Wait!" He stopped, awaiting my answer. "… Take me instead."

"Have you gone stupid, Belle?" Which is Buster for '_don't do this, Natalie_'.

"… You would take their place?"

Logan grabbed my wing. "No she's not. She's leaving now!"

"Yes," I said without hesitation. Well, I did feel a bit hesitant because I have no idea what my captor looks like. So that's when I said, "Step into the light."

He obeyed, and thanks to the moon, I saw what he looked like. I gasped and covered my beak, my eyes never leaving the scar that was on his left eye to his beak.

His eyes were wide too, scanning me up and down – judging me. He then narrowed them. "And you promise to stay here forever?"

"… I promise."

"BELLE!" my brothers yelled.

"I'll give you five minutes to say goodbye," the thing said then left.

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><p>"Natalie, you've <em>lost your mind<em>!" Buster screamed.

"I'm more concerned about you guys. I'll be fine."

"But _we're _the oldest, we're suppose to protect you," Logan said, his eyes softening.

"Again, I'll be fine. Nothing bad will happen to me."

The creature came back. "Time's up."

To humans, the cage was miniature to them, reaching to their shins. But to us small birds, it was very tall, and the creature was as tall as the cage – maybe a bit taller than it. He was also strong, considering he picked up the cage from the handle, with my brothers in it, and onto a group of mice's backs. "Take them home," he ordered and they left without a word. He turned to face me. "Follow me to your hollow."

I tilted my head at that. Hollow? I thought I would be in a cage too. He noticed the surprised look on my face because he smiled and said, "I wouldn't _dare _think about letting a pretty girl live in a ratty old cage."

I resisted the urge to make a face. Did he just flirt with me? Ok…ew.

We stopped at one tree. He gestured to it, silently saying that this was where I'll be staying.

"If you need anything, the mice will attend you." He was about to leave when he turned around. "Oh, I'll see you at dinner, sweetness," he said with a wink then left.

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><p>I was silently sitting on my nest, my eyes blank and scanning the hollow. When I say the hollow was huge, I mean <em>huge<em>; so huge that I could fly inside it.

… I regret nothing.

I then heard a knock. Odd, because if it was the creature, he could have just came in. "Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Blu, ma'am," a different voice said.

I flew towards the entrance of the hollow. I poked my head out, tilting my head in confusion.

"Over here."

I looked to my left to see a blue mouse hanging on the bark of the tree with a kid on his back. "May I come in?" he asked, gesturing to the entrance.

I nodded and went back to the nest to sit as Blu came in, the kid jumping off his back as they stopped in front of me. "Told you she was pretty, papa."

Blu chuckled as I smiled. "Yes, Samuel, she is."

Blu then looked up at me, pity flashing in his eyes. "I'm so sorry about all that's happened."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault, so don't worry."

Blu and Samuel sat down in front of me. "But that was really brave of you – sacrificing yourself for your brothers."

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Samuel said

I chuckled. "With brothers like them, you might think I'm the oldest."

Blu laughed then asked, "May I ask about their personas?"

"I'd be insulted if you didn't," I joked.

Maybe staying here won't be so bad.

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><p><strong>AN: Natalie and Nico have met. Here's a note: Buster and Logan don't call Natalie Belle that often. The reason they did was because they wanted to protect Natalie by not using her name, 'cause if they did and Natalie somehow escaped, Nico might look for her by her name.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Cancellation

**A/N: I decided to update this chapter before I go to camp. It's a three day camp, but it's still camp. I wanna have some fun before I go back to school.**

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><p>Blu, Samuel, and I were laughing and enjoying ourselves as I talked about my brothers.<p>

"They would always find ways to mock that dog," I said, stifling my giggles. "Whether it was taunting him about his name, to Z getting himself hurt by falling into their tricks. One time, my brothers taunted him so much, that Z chased them. With the help of our cat friend, they fooled him into getting smacked by a window door!" (1)

We all laughed again. Blu got up from the floor, wiping a tear from his eye. "Your brothers must be very comical."

I nodded. "Yeah, and that's why I love them. They would always find some way to make me laugh whether it's on purpose or not. They're also finding things to do something stupid on."

"Oh, yeah. You said they were stunt birds, correct?"

"Yep, but they're not doing so well. They entered a contest but cannot find a great stunt. It always ends up exploding." My cheery mood was replaced by sadness. I let out a sigh. "I miss them already."

The mouse's eyes softened. "I'm sorry, but I'm sure you'll like it here," he said, trying to console me.

I smiled dejectedly. "Mmm, maybe. You can't be so sure"

Blu suddenly got a mischievous look in his eye. "Oh, I don't know. Some things take an unexpected turn."

I just furrowed my eyebrows—about to question him before he spoke. "Oops, look at the time. We have to go. C'mon, Sam." He scurried to the entrance of the hollow, Samuel yelling a cute little 'bye!' before climbing down the tree with his father.

I just blinked at the sudden departure. Well, that was…odd.

_Knock Knock!_

Again, I blinked. That couldn't be Blu, he just left. Still, I asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Jewel and Eva," two voices said, both sounding female.

I went to the entrance and looked at my right to see a petite black and white mouse and a light cerulean mouse next to her. "Uh…come in?"

Both females came in and sat at the foot of my nest as I flew towards it. The light blue mouse looked up at me with teal eyes. "By the way, _I'm _Jewel—you've probably met my mate Blu."

"I didn't know Blu had a mate. I'm Belle," I lied, using my nickname. (2)

The black and white mouse jerked her head up, as if saying 'what's up'. "Hey, chica, the name's Eva."

"So, I hear you're having dinner with the Master," Jewel spoke.

I opened my beak to say something before Eva cut me off. "Well, we're gonna need to prepare you for it. Your speech, your posture, what you have to say to him—"

"But first, let's do something about her hair. It's nice, but we need it to be hot to impress the Master. Maybe we can take you to the lake and try to find some twigs to make it curl—"

"Try batting your eyelashes at him. With those lashes and eyes, you'll easily win him over—"

"Maybe we could go to Ipanema and snag some rubber bands to tie it up into a knot—"

"Or you could—"

Or you could—"

"**GIRLS!" **I yelled. "I appreciate the…advice." No, not really. They gave me a headache. "But I'm not going to dinner."

They looked at me in silence for a minute before yelling, "WHY NOT?!"

After that, a red and gray mouse came in. He looked up at me before smiling. "Hey, girly, I'm Pedro. And I came in here to tell you that dinner's ready."

I looked at the females calculatingly before they gave Pedro a tense look.

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><p><em>Nico's POV<em>

I was pacing around the hollow with the girl's and I dinner, a bit anxious. I looked up when I heard the small pitter-patter of feet, knowing it was Blu from the start.

Turns out, it was Rafael. "What are you doing here?" I asked, a bit confused to why he's here.

"I heard you _invited_ the girl to dinner—emphasis on 'invited'."

I just gave a sheepish smile. He just chuckled, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "You told her what you tell every girl, didn't you? 'I'll see you at dinner, sweetness' then winked and flew away." He put his arm up in a motion to flying.

"Raffy, what else could I do?"

"You could've asked the girl _properly_."

I sighed. Raffy continued. "If you want to win her over and break the curse, you need to think about her too."

All of a sudden, Blu came in. "He's right, Nico. I talked to her and she spoke about her brothers with such affection. So, while you guys are dinning, give her respect. She must be in pain without her brothers."

Again, I sighed. "Guys, what's the point? She's…very attractive." Now _that _I'm not gonna lie about. She really is beautiful but… "And I'm…JUST LOOK AT ME!" I roared out of anger.

Rafael and Pedro looked at each other in distress. Blu broke the silence. "Look, if you wanna win Belle—"

"Belle?"

"Yeah, that's her name. She told me."

Belle…I thought her brothers called her that because her voice sounded like one—but apparently I was wrong when Blu continued. "It's a suiting name for her. It means 'beauty' in French." It _does _suit her.

"As I was saying, just be polite. Give her a smile and compliment her."

Rafael walked next to him. "Yeah, ask about her life. She doesn't seem like she's from here, so ask where she's from and how her life was back there."

"But if she doesn't want to talk to you about her life—give her time. She'll open up eventually."

"If she wants space, give it to her. She's a bit upset, so give her a bit of time."

I massaged my temples, a bit irritated. All of their advice is giving me a headache. Eventually, Raffy got silent. I understood why when I heard a soft noise outside. "She's here!" Blu exclaimed.

I straightened up my posture and flashed my signature smile. To my surprise, it was Pedro. He looked apprehensive. "H-hey, guys. Wassup?"

"Pedro, where's the girl?" Rafael asked.

"U-uh, girl?"

"Yes, girl. A female; the opposite of male and the only bird in this jungle," Blu said blankly.

"W-well, the girl…she…s-she…h-haha…you guys are gonna love this. She—I—well—she—erm—she," he stuttered.

"Get on with it," Raffy said, annoyance in his voice.

Pedro sucked in a shaky, shallow breath then said, "She's not coming," he finally said, nervousness on his face.

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><p>…Awkward.<p>

You can actually feel the awkward and distress in the air as everyone looked at me. No doubt, I was angry. I wanted her out here so we can talk and, hopefully, she could've broken my curse. But I had to admit, Blu and Raffy were right. I need to give her time, and later she might come out.

I sucked in a deep breath and shocked everyone when I said, "Okay. If she gets hungry, just give her the food."

I calmly walked near the entrance and flew off towards my hollow. Once I landed, I immediately went to the bottle cap. "Show me the girl," I spoke to the inside of it.

The inside then changed from its silver reflection to the female canary with Eva and Jewel with her.

"_Chica, how could you refuse dinner with the Master?" _Eva asked.

Belle sighed. _"I…I'm just not ready."_

I saw Jewel nod. _"Eva, she's right. How would __**you **__feel if someone took you away from your family?" _she asked.

Eva's usually hard face actually softened and she sighed. She looked back up at Belle. _"If you need anything, just shout. Let's go, Jewel."_

Jewel gave Belle a soft pat on her talon, a small smile, and then left the hollow with Eva. Belle just sighed and looked down in sadness, her eyes glistening. After a few seconds, she crashed—lying prostrate and sobbing loudly.

Guilt surged in my veins as I put the cap down. I sighed for the umpteenth time today. I didn't _want _to take her away from her family, but what choice did I have? She may be the only one who could break the spell. It feels so hopeless to believe, but it could happen. For now, I need to follow Rafael's advice and give her space. Maybe—only then—would she finally come back out.

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><p><strong>AN: I know Nico seems a bit OOC but I need him to be for this chapter. Don't worry; he won't be OOC for the rest of the story. Do you think Natalie won't come out because she's not ready to face him, or is it something else?**

**(1) I don't know what it's really called but when you open your/friend's door and there's a second door but it's like a window. Yeah, that's it.**

**(2) Natalie thought that Blu was probably single for goodness knows what. She thought maybe she died, a some kind of separation etc.,**


	6. Chapter 6: Aw, Crud!

After about thirty minutes, I peeked out of the hollow. Hesitantly, I flew out of it and landed softly. I held my stomach when it growled. _Great; how am I gonna find food in a place like this?_

A chuckle was heard. I looked to my left and down to see a black and white mouse. "Ah, yes, the girl Nico has here. Judging by the sound, you are hungry, right?"

I blinked. "Nico? _That's _the "Master's" name?" I asked, speaking my thoughts out loud.

The mouse shook his head and sighed. "Technically, he's not a "Master"," he said, making quotation marks with his paws. "He just says that to intimidate any trespassers, such as you and your brothers."

He certainly got us good. With his size, he could be ruler of the cats if he wanted. "Well, follow me. I'll get you something to eat—by the way, I'm Rafael."

"Okay…Rafael. Um, I'm Belle." Looks like I'm gonna start using my nickname from now on. He led me to a different tree with a hollow and hopped onto the trunk before scurrying up to the hollow. I flapped my wings and landed at the edge of the hollow.

Once he jumped inside, I turned and hopped in as well. My beak was gaped open at what I saw. In the center of the hollow was a long, thick, flat rock and on top of it were various mouth-watering berries—some of which I don't even know. I immediately ran/hopped towards the berries, ready to shove then down my throat when I saw one of them move. I flinched in fear when I realized that something awful could happen. A sigh of relief escaped my beak when I recognized the familiar youthful hazel eyes.

Samuel pouted when he saw me. "Awww, you came? I was gonna eat these berries," he whined, looking at the goods with longing eyes.

"Samuel!" two voices scolded.

A few seconds later, both Jewel and Blu ran towards their kid. Jewel looked up at me and chuckled nervously. "Err, sorry about that, Belle," she apologized while Blu was scolding Sam with a, "Samuel, that's no way to talk! She's a guest, so she can eat first."

I smiled when I saw the family. "Blu, Jewel, it's okay—really! Kids will be kids, right?" I bent down a bit, my wings on my knees as I made eye contact with the kid. "Now, since we're both hungry, how about we split the food? Does that sound good, Sam?"

Sam yelped a 'yeah' before eating his food quickly. A humorous laughed left my throat before I nibbled on the berry.

"Dang, don't you ever feed that kid, Jewel," I heard Rafael tease.

"I do, about ten times a day," she replied with the same amount of humor back at Rafael. Everyone laughing at the joke—except Samuel, who pouted with his arms crossed.

I decided to split the meal with Jewel, Blu, and Rafael too. To tell the truth, I was actually comfortable. It's just like the family meals my bothers, Genevieve, and I used to have back in VA. We all laughed, exchanged stories, shared jokes, and a bunch of other junk. All too soon, dinner ended.

"Do you need help going back to your hollow?" Blu asked when I was about to fly off to my new hollow.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm pretty sure I can find it on my own," I said before taking off.

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><p>"Okay, that was dumb of me," I thought out loud after flying for what seemed like an hour. <em>Why <em>didn't I take up Blu's offer in the first place? I barely know this place but I just _had _to be stubborn and independent, didn't I? Sometimes, I curse those traits. That's it, I'm walking now. I landed on the ground and started hopping around; looking for the only tree that had a light color to it. Suddenly, I felt like I crushed into someone.

"Ow! Watch where you're going, you fat pig! Lose some weight while you're at it!" I yelled from my place on the ground. Usually, I would just yell "watch you're going", but I was so frustrated that I couldn't find my temporary home that I was cranky.

"What did you sssssay, rat?" a voice literally hissed with something like a baby rattle rattling.

I froze and slowly looked up. "Ep," I yelped shrilly.

In front of me was a very large rattle snake, baring it's fangs at me and shaking its tail angrily (1). He smirked at the sight of me cowering. "Hmm…it'sssss been awhile since I had canary. Maybe now'sssss the time to reminisce the taste."

The more he slithered towards me, the more I backed away. Unfortunately, my back hit against a tree. My knees were shaking and I was too paralyzed in fear to fly. Soon enough, he was in front of me, his silhouette towering over me as his sharp golden eyes stared at me hungrily.

He smirked, his pointed teeth showing and reflecting against the moon. He was about to attack when an ear-piercing caw was heard (2). The snake was tackled to the ground and I looked to the side to see a familiar figure. Nico and the snake circled each other before the latter hissed, lunging towards Nico. He didn't move and allowed my predator to tackle him. They both rumbled on the ground. Soon enough, Nico got bitten. He let out another loud caw of pain before furiously scratching his opponent with razor sharp talons. The snake attempted to bite him but Nico would just simply dodge. Tired and banged up, his opponent hissed angrily before leaving.

Nico panted heavily before crouching, holding onto his chest with a wing. Feeling slightly guilty, I ran towards him and put his free wing around my shoulders and my wing on his waist. We trudged towards a small lake nearby.

"Stay here," I said firmly as he sat on a rock. I flapped my wings and picked off a leaf, making my way towards the lake. I put the leaf in the water and wringed it a bit. I hopped back towards Nico, who still had a wing to his chest and was grimacing. I gently tried to pry his wing away, but it never budged.

I sighed in exasperation. "Let go or you'll get infected." He made a noise in detest, but slowly relaxed and allowed me to pull his wing away.

"Now, this may sting a little," I warned before pressing the damp leaf on his chest. He cawed loudly, and I shut my eyes at the sound. When he was done yelling in pain, I opened my eyes and started blinking rapidly (3). I think I'm deaf. I looked up at him through my long eyelashes before turning my attention to his wound. My face contorted into negation and I grunted before spitting out my words. "By the way, thank you…for saving my life."

Nico looked down at me and smirked. "Heh, anytime, toots."

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><p><strong>AN: AAAAAAH! I am **_**so **_**sorry for the long update. Man, high school takes a lot out of you. Don't worry; I'm not abandoning this and ****A New World****. Just don't be mad if it comes a bit late. I had writers block with ****A New World****, but inspiration just hit me for the next chapter.**

**1.) Thanks a lot, ****EmmerzK, for helping me plan this out :D And yes, rattle snakes a native in South American jungles.**

**2.) You know how the beast roars? Well, since Nico's a beast bird, I changed it to a very loud caw.**

**3.) Yeah, no argument here because, really, Nico didn't do anything wrong—besides trapping Natalie. It's just our little protagonist's stubbornness and irritability got her in trouble.**


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